Video: Kleins: "Mongoloid", "GM Food Fight"

The Kleins are like your family if in addition to getting together for family meals, you all wrote songs about the genetically modified nature of those meals. And then for dessert, you head to the basement and cover a Devo song.

Now you've got the gist of these two videos, recorded in 2002 and 2003. Both songs feature Dad on drum machine (which he plays with sticks), Mom on keyboards (even a keytar at one point!), and Bro and Sis on guitars.

The "Mongoloid" video was filmed in the family's basement and also includes some sweet slow motion snowman-destroying footage. "GM Food Fight" is an original, and the video has the family/band getting into what else but... a food fight! Both songs are credited to the album Q: Are We Not Kleins? in the video credits, but these two seem to be their only songs, if arewenotkleins.com is to be trusted.

"Mongoloid":

"GM Food Fight":

Video: The Kleins: Mongoloid
Video: The Kleins: GM Food Fight

The Slits Announce North American Tour

The Slits reunion is for real, it's coming to America, and now we have the tour dates to prove it. The reggae punk will tour North America around the time of the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, hitting up both coasts, Texas, and Canada.

The trek is slated to kick off just before the band's first new material in two decades, the Revenge of the Killer Slits EP, hits shelves on October 17 via SAF Records. As previously reported, the EP features Slits Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt joined by such guests as Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and Adam & the Ants guitarist Marco Pirroni. [MORE...]

Video: The Slits: Typical Girls

The Wrens Schedule Fall Shows

Being the nice dude that he is, Charles Bissell of the Wrens is doing his part to help out the people on the Gulf Coast, raising money for the relief kitchens and community centers associated with non-profit organization Emergency Communities.

Tomorrow, July 22, Bissell will play an acoustic solo set at Williamsburg, Brooklyn's Supreme Trading venue as part of an Emergency Communities benefit, with all funds going to assist Hurricane Katrina victims. Attendees will not only be treated to the feel-good vibes that come with helping people out, but also free beer, an art show and auction, and "a New Orleans-style parade down Bedford with a brass quartet." Doesn't get better than that.

Oh wait, yeah it does. The Wrens have scheduled a series of full-band U.S. shows for the fall. Dates after the jump. [MORE...]

MP3: The Wrens: Grey Complexion

The Walkmen Schedule August Tour

The Walkmen are in Spain right now, partying on the beach at the Benicassim Festival. Come next week, they'll be back in the good ol' U.S. of A., partying even harder at the Pitchfork Music Festival. And come next month, they'll spend the dog days of summer sweating through a tour of the South. Ahh, nothing like Alabama in August.

The band recently updated their website with news of their next album, a complete song-by-song cover of Harry Nilsson's 1974 record Pussy Cats, now due out October 24. They also advise against renting the movies The Family Stone and Derailed, or going to see Superman Returns. Thanks, guys. [MORE...]

Video: The Walkmen: Louisiana

The Rentals Hit the Road
Must be returned to Hertz by next Sunday

Are you now or have you ever been a friend of P? If so, not only does that mean you're automatically friends with me, it also reasons to figure that you might be interested that the newly reformed Rentals are headed out on a North American tour, starting tomorrow night in San Francisco.

As previously reported, former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp is taking his synth pop project out of the mothballs, on to the road, and into the studio for an upcoming third album. While the band's website muses that the album is "likely to be completed and ready for release in 2007," the tour dates are ready for the here and now.

Don't let the website's awkward HTML-for-beginners appearance scare you off, either; besides hosting the official video clip-heavy archive of a band that released only two albums, the website also offers a Rentals remix of Tegan and Sara's "Walking with a Ghost." First the White Stripes cover the song and now the Rentals remix it, proving that ghosts have officially replaced zombies as this season's official "it" ghoul. [MORE...]

MP3: Tegan and Sara: Walking With a Ghost (The Rentals remix)

Flaming Lips and Goldfrapp Remix Each Other

Forget warring with the mystics, the Flaming Lips are now battling the pink Goldfrapp. Wayne and the boys recently remixed the British electro-house duo's track "Satin Chic", available as a digital download on August 14 and as a limited edition 7" picture disc on September 4 on Mute in the UK.

Titled Satin Boys, Flaming Chic, the 7" also features a Goldfrapp remix of the Ordinary Boys' "Boys Will Be Boys", plus some truly scary cover artwork (see above).

In turn, Goldfrapp remixed the Flaming Lips single "The W.A.N.D." ("Supernaturalistic Goldfrapp Remix"), was released in the UK on July 17.

In talking to NME about the remix experience, Wayne Coyne chose some really obscure references: "I believe we veered towards a Nina Simone meets Radiohead kind of mood." [MORE...]

Video: Flaming Lips: The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song

Bright Eyes Rarities Compilation Due

Anxiously awaiting the follow-up to Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning/Digital Ash in a Digital Urn? Prepare to hit the Noise Floor. On October 24, Saddle Creek will release a collection of Conor Oberst rarities-- singles, one-offs, previously unreleased tracks, collaborations, and covers-- recorded between 1998 and 2005.

Noise Floor will be available on both CD and vinyl formats, with five songs available only on the LP.

Tracklist:

01 Mirrors and Fevers (Don't Be Frightened of Turning The Page EP - 2000)
02 I Will Be Grateful for This Day (Sub Pop Singles Club 7" - 2001)
03 Trees Get Wheeled Away (Lost & Found, Volume 1 compilation - 2003)
04 Drunk Kid Catholic ("3 Hit Songs From Bright Eyes" UK single - 2003)
05 Spent on Rainy Days (Home Series on Post Parlo Records - 2002)
06 The Vanishing Act ("Too Much of a Good Thing" 7" - 1999)
07 Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man ("Motion Sickness" 7" - 2000)
08 Blue Angels Air Show (DIW Magazine 7" - 2002)
09 Weather Reports (Unreleased 7" with M. Ward)
10 Seashell Tale (Unreleased 7" with M. Ward)
11 Bad Blood (Album Leaf split 7" - 2001)
12 Amy in the White Coat (Vinyl-only B-side on the No Beginning to the Story EP - 2002)
13 Devil Town (The Late Great Daniel Johnston compilation - 2004)
14 I've Been Eating (For You) ("3 New Hit Songs From Bright Eyes" - UK single - 2001)
15 Happy Birthday to Me (Feb. 15) ("3 New Hit Songs From Bright Eyes" - UK single - 2001)
16 Motion Sickness ("Motion Sickness" 7" - 2000)
17 Act of Contrition (Second Thoughts compilation - 2000) *
18 Hungry for a Holiday (Album Leaf split 7" - 2001) *
19 When the Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass Again (Sub Pop singles club 7" - 2001) *
20 Entry Way Song (Amos House Vol. 2 compilation 2002) *
21 It's Cool, We Can Still Be Friends (Transmission One: Tea At The Palaz of Hoon compilation - 2000) *

* vinyl only

Over the past year, Oberst has been working on his new new record, logging hours with producer Mike Mogis at studios across the country. Guest stars on the disc include Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss and alt-folkie Gillian Welch. Currently untitled, the effort is slated to drop in Spring 2007.

Video: Bright Eyes: Trees Get Wheeled Away (live on David Letterman)

Ryan Adams Adds More Shows

Undergo physical. Check. Take vitamins. Check. Get vaccinations. Check. OK! Ryan Adams is officially ready to go on tour. We're not promising anything, but maybe if we all cross our fingers really, really hard, Adams' U.S. and European tours will go off without a hitch.

In addition to filling out his U.S. tour itinerary, Adams has tacked on a trek though the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany. He will head overseas in late September to make his fall rounds. [MORE...]

Stream: Ryan Adams: Oh My Sweet Carolina

Drag City Unearths Another Lost Folkie

Sometimes people just don't know what they've got until their friends tell them-- spinach in the teeth, cool parents... hey, even talent. Take musician cousins Mark Fosson and Tiffany Anders for example. Back in 1977, Fosson made his way from Kentucky to Los Angeles to sign to John Fahey's famous Takoma Records. He recorded some tunes, both with and without Fahey, and was moving forward to release them when the label went bankrupt. The recordings collected dust at Fosson's place since then and perhaps would have sat there forever if Anders hadn't gotten on his back about getting them out to the public.

Taking Anders' cue, Drag City will release The Lost Takoma Sessions on July 25, and although Fahey isn't present on these particular tracks, they're likely still worth checking out. [MORE...]

MP3: Mark Fosson: Little Darlin (clip)

Radiohead's OK Computer Coming to DVD

A new Radiohead DVD, OK Computer: Classic Album Under Review, will be released via Music Video Distributors and Sexy Intellectual on September 19. The 53-minute film reviews Radiohead's 1997 masterpiece track by track. Contributors include writer/journalist/Radiohead: A Guide to Their Music author Mark Paytress, ex-MOJO editor Barney Hoskyns, Radiohead biographer Alex Ogg, and more.

Rare live and studio performances of each OK Computer song (and Pablo Honey's "Creep") will be featured in good ol' 5.1 surround sound. In addition, the disc will house "The Hardest Interactive Radiohead Quiz in the World Ever", full contributor biographies, and a "Beyond DVD" section, whatever that means. [MORE...]

Video: Radiohead: Karma Police

MP3: Futureheads: "Let's Dance"

The Futureheads want to dance. Almost as much as David Bowie did. (Almost.) The British four-piece pull off a characteristically energetic cover of the 1983 Thin White Duke classic, accentuating the song's jagged edges while never straying too far from the blueprint. It's no "Hounds of Love" cover, but what is?

Can't wait to hear 'em play this at the Pitchfork Music Festival next weekend.

MP3: The Futureheads: Let's Dance

Bjork, Thurston, Jarvis Make Rough Trade Mix
Also: James Murphy, Erol Alkan, Bobby Gillespie

Making someone a mixtape is universal code for "I love you" for the less-than-forthright of us, and what better way to get some lovin' than to listen to a mix carefully compiled by some of your favorite artists? The folks over at Rough Trade have just such a mix set for a September 25 release in the UK (alas, Americans remain loveless).

Rough Trade Shops will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with the release of The Record Shop: 30 Years of Rough Trade Shops, which features 30 tracks from the likes of the Modern Lovers, the Pixies, Björk and LCD Soundsystem, among many others.

The real treat, however, is that 30 members of the store's famous clientele, including some of the artists featured, handpicked the tracks on the two-disc compilation. These curators include Jarvis Cocker, Björk, Thurston Moore, DFA/LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, and Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein. Each curator will also contribute liner notes to the package. The tracklist is listed after the jump with the names of the people who chose each track in parentheses. [MORE...]

Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently? Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.)